Officer Assaulted in South Seattle

On June 14th at approximately 3:10 p.m. a uniformed patrol officer was driving north in the 3100 block of MLK Jr. Way South in a fully marked police car. The officer observed a male pedestrian j-walk across MLK Jr. Way South, an arterial street. There is a pedestrian overpass (foot bridge) about 15 feet to the north of where the male pedestrian j-walked. The officer stopped the pedestrian. While interacting with the 18-year-old male pedestrian, the officer observed four female pedestrians j-walk at the same location that the male pedestrian just had. The officer instructed the females to step over to his vehicle. They were verbally antagonistic toward the officer. One female subject turned and began to walk away. The officer again instructed her to step over to his car. She continued to walk away and appeared to raise her hand in a dismissive gesture. The officer contacted the female subject and began escorting her back toward his car. The female subject began to tense up her arm and pull away from the officer while yelling at him. Once at the patrol car the female subject refused to obey the officer’s commands to place her hands on the car. When the officer again tried to gain control of her, she pulled away and twisted, breaking free of the officer’s grip several times.

At this time a large crowd gathered around the officer. When the officer tried to handcuff the female subject, another female subject intervened. The second female subject placed her hands on the officer’s arm, causing the officer to believe she was attempting to physically affect the first subject’s escape. The officer pushed the second subject back, but she again came at the officer, at which time he punched her. The second subject moved away and the officer was able to handcuff the first subject and place her in the back seat of his patrol car.

As the officer contacted and subsequently escorted the second subject over to his patrol car, she too tried to pull and twist away from him. The officer restrained her until backup officers arrived, at which time the second subject was handcuffed.

Suspect #1, a 19-year-old female, was booked into the King County Jail for Obstructing an Officer. Suspect #2, a 17-year-old female, was booked into the Youth Service Center for Investigation of Assault on an Officer. Both suspects were cited for j-walking. Nobody appeared to be injured as a result of the altercation. SFD medics responded and evaluated suspect #2 as a precautionary measure.

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